By: Elizabeth Lavender
Nicotine addictions amongst college students is at an all time high. But the most common question is how vaping sales have remained such an issue among younger individuals since their rise in popularity in 2016.
Dr. Douglas Phillips, explains that “even though this addiction recovery would be fairly simple, and fast, I would presume that the temptation from how common they are is holding individuals back from recovery."
A New York Times article, also attributes the addiction rise to individuals being away from their parents for the first time. With this separation and lack of rules, students are able to experiment more freely without parental guidance.
“I think when younger students are able to do whatever they want, with younger individuals, these temptations are easily turned into the social normal,” said Dr. Phillips.
Kelby Smith, Georgia Southern University graduate, claims she only started vaping because all of her friends vaped while they were drinking in college.
“It was always just a drinking thing, we shared them when we would go out”, said Smith. But even though it just started as a weekend habit, the habit has grown to a daily activity. “I still buy disposable vapes before work, because I have to be awake very late for my job, and it helps when we’re busy,” said Smith.
Kelby is one of many college students who have had a vaping addiction develop throughout their college career.
The easy accessibility of these devices being placed in corner stores, as well as their fruity, sweet flavors, has made the opportunity to get hooked even higher. While students are awake late studying, or even out with friends, these easily accessible nicotine devices have added a quick habit to their everyday life styles.
Current Georgia Southern University student, Elizabeth Love, claims that the temptation for vaping was never intriguing to her.
“I think even though everyone else was doing it, the first couple of times I tried it grossed me out,” said Love. She continued that coughing while attempting was uninteresting to her.
“I would watch people waste their money, and we would have to stop on the way to events if someone was out,” said Love, continuing how the habit seemed like it would be annoying to her.
Love is not alone, many students have resisted temptation and do not partake in smoking habits. In 2021, the Center for Disease Control estimated over 2 million youth individuals have current nicotine addictions.
While these addictions are not seemingly ending soon, there have been multiple CDC bans on certain flavors to hopefully curve the numbers of the addicted.